The Xbox One received a high-profile multiplayer-only game last week – Titanfall. But the world needs single-player games too, and so Konami delivers one this week. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is now available on Xbox One, 360, and competing platforms. A short game with a mercifully low price, Ground Zeroes provides a tantalizing glimpse at the future of the Metal Gear series.

Meanwhile, the already-released Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare for Xbox One and 360 just received a major free downloadable content package that adds a new map, items, and lots more changes. Read on for details, trailers, and store links!

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

The real Metal Gear Solid V won’t be ready for quite some time, but in its stead Konami has released a value-priced prequel called Ground Zeroes. Players once again take on the role of Snake (played by Kifer Sutherland), who must infiltrate a prison camp in order to perform a daring rescue. The game's environments are now much more open than before, allowing Snake to solve problems and handle enemy encounters with a variety of solutions. He can even drive vehicles.

Ground Zeroes is a very short game, with the main mission taking less than two hours to complete. The cinematic sequences last only twentyo minutes total, which is praise-worthy for this particular series. After the main mission concludes, the game offers five additional missions and the replayability of collectibles and trying for better scores. With a light 15 Achievements worth 1,000 GamerScore, Ground Zeroes should be a reasonable completion.

The Xbox One and 360 versions of Ground Zeroes feature an exclusive mission called "Jamais Vu." The bad news is you play as Raiden during the mission. We got the short end of the stick there, because the Playstation 3 and 4 versions get a much better mission starring the Metal Gear Solid 1 version of Solid Snake. But we do get a SmartGlass feature called iDroid that displays maps and other useful information. So that’s something.

• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes – Xbox One – 4.58 GB – $29.99 – Amazon Link– Xbox.com Link

• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes – Xbox 360 – 1.53 GB –  $29.99 ($19.99 via download) – Amazon Link– Xbox.com Link

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

Today’s version 1.31 update is called the “Garden Variety Pack.” The download clocks in at ~800 MB on Xbox One and 213 MB (as a separate download) on Xbox 360.

Major Features:

• New Map: Chomp Town – playable in Garden Ops, Team Vanquish and Gnome Bomb. Yes Crazy Dave IS riding a Chomper… Why??? Because he’s CRAAAZYYY!
• New Game Mode: Gnome Bomb – be the 1st team to destroy all three gardens or graveyards with the explosive new Gnome Bomb.
• Pirates have invaded Port Scallywag and Sharkbite Shores in Garden Ops
• New Abilities for all characters – new character abilities are tucked away in the sticker shop (hint: Crazy Pack and higher are your best bet to get them! Supremium Pack, Incredi-Plant Pack & Vengeful Zomboss Pack have the highest chances to get them)
• 125 new customization items added to the sticker shop – spread across all characters/rarities…
• Added Doom-shroom potted plant consumable for plants
• Added Barrel Pirate, Treasure Map Pirate consumable for zombies

Minor Features:

• Improved reliability for the hold (B) interaction wheel – when reviving, building turrets etc….
• Added Bonus Score for playing Garden Ops Solo or with a friend
• Added a min player requirement to each game mode
• Tweaked various hats to improve overall visibility
• Added improved audio to slow firing weapons to queue players when next shot is available

Gameplay Balance Changes and Bug Fixes:

• Head to Facebook for the full list!

Garden Warfare is an amazingly fun game, and this new content makes it even better. If you enjoy multiplayer shooters, don’t miss it.

• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare – Xbox One – 10.1 GB - $39.99 – Amazon Link– Xbox.com Link
• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare – Xbox 360 – 2.43 GB - $29.99 – Amazon Link– Xbox.com Link

Next week

Only one Xbox game has been announced for next week so far: the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall! Electronic Arts has yet to show the 360 game to the public, which could indicate a lack of faith on their part. Or perhaps they just want the Xbox One version to enjoy the limelight first and foremost, as was the case with Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. We’ll find out in seven days’ time!

In much farther off news, Zen Studios has just announced Pinball FX2, Castlestorm, and Kickbeat for Xbox One! Shame we never got that Windows Phone version of Pinball FX2...

Comics have played a vital role in many generations when it comes to entertainment, content for imagination and the ability to remove oneself from the world and join a fantasy realm. Dengen Chronicles (www.dengenchronicles.com) brings the comic to Windows Phone in an excellently-executed card game.

Trading cards and collectable card games have taken off recently, but Dengen Chronicles brings the Manga universe to Microsoft's mobile platform, mixing TCG (trading card game) and RPG (role-playing game) elements together. Players are able to battle both AI and human opponents to earn coin and experience.

In total, there are four Manga families available to choose from: Ninja, Fantasy, Robot and School. Choosing a side is important as you'll be creating a deck of customizable cards to engage in some heated battles for your family. The best part about Dengen Chronicles is that it's completely free to play.

If you're not familiar with the style of gameplay, players are tasked with deploying cards from decks to destroy opponents on the battlefield. Multiple games can run simultaneously as this is a turn-based environment. While waiting for opponents to return fire, players can start new games, manage decks or quit altogether.

Here are some highlighted features:

• Challenge other players through NFC
• Customize warriors choosing from thousands of fantasy items
• Purchase card bundles with in-game currency to expand your arsenal
• Battle through multiple fights at once
• Evolve your deck to improve chances of survival

Dengen Chronicles was recently updated with some new features, including daily rewards, bug fixing and general stability and performance improvements. More localization support is well on the way with the following languages:

• Chinese
• French
• German
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish

We recommend you check out Dengen Chronicles, even if you're not a die-hard fan of the Manga universe - it's a superb card game. You can download Dengen Chronicles from the Windows Phone Store (or Windows 8). I'd personally dig to see this game refreshed with Xbox Live support and released on Xbox One. Make it happen, Microsoft.

Works on 512MB hardware.

It’s time to take up the role of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, join hands with the Marvel super heroes, and take down Dr. Doom, Loki, and other super villains, essentially saving the world in the process! Avengers Alliance, a popular game for Windows 8 devices has now made it to the Windows Phone Store.

The game allows you to choose from more than 20 super heroes to help your cause, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Hulk. All that would you give you a chance to fight more than 450 battles and 60 missions with hundreds of quests.

The game features stunning graphics and game play. The haunting background score adds to the drama. You can also play in the ‘Player vs Player’ mode or ‘Special Operations’ mode. The game offers over 400 in-game items and customizable agent and hero stats.

There’s a bummer as well to the fantastic game. You will need an active internet connection to play the game. Also, the game is a stand-alone edition, essentially living in a silo, so your stats and game play won’t link to the Facebook, Android, or iOS versions. This one's a terrible limitation.

Download Avengers Alliance for free for Windows Phone 8 devices with at least 1GB RAM from the Windows Phone Store, and give it a whirl. It’s pretty engaging, and great strategic fun. If you've not tried it on your Windows 8 device yet, download it from the Windows Store. If you are a fan of the genre, also check out our round-up of top super hero games for Windows Phone from last month.

Source: The Fire Hose

If you are in search of a minimalistic puzzle game for your Windows Phone, take a gander at Think. The Windows Phone 8 game is a word association game where you are presented with a series of drawings that you have to correctly identify what they represent.

The drawings are minimal and often include multiple items that you have to combine to solve the puzzle. Think reminds me of Pictionary just a little but with the illustrated clues already drawn-up. Think isn’t a fast paced game with a lot of bells and whistles. It is, however, a well drawn-up casual puzzle game for your Windows Phone that is a fun way to pass the time with.

Design

Think is a simplistically laid out puzzle game with a main menu that has options to access the game’s settings, access the game’s store, to view the help section, to rank the game in the Windows Phone Store and to share the game with friends.

Your settings with Think cover Facebook login, turning the gaming music on/off, and reset your gaming progress. If you choose to log into your Facebook account you will in turn have the ability to sync your progress to the cloud. This can come in handy should you change devices or play Think from multiple devices.

The Think Store has in-app purchase opportunities to buy hint packages, remove the ads as well as buy unlimited hints and remove the ads.

The game itself includes 360 puzzles that are spread out across 30 chapters. When you are ready to jump into the game, just tap “Let’s Begin”.

Game Play

Game play starts out a little on the easy side with Think. You will be presented with an image and have to identify what it means. For example, the first series of puzzles will show you stick figures of a man, women and child (like you would see on a public restroom door) and you have to correctly identify their gender or the action they are performing.

As you progress through the game, Think will become more challenging. The stick figures will illustrate an action to identify or will be combined with other symbols to form a phrase or movie title. You will be presented with symbols you need to identify that will also be combined with other illustrations to create a phrase or title. Whenever Think introduces a new element to the game, an instructional screen will appear before the puzzles, such as hand gestures that represent “The” and “A” in a phrase.

The pace of the game is about as casual as you can get. There’s no time limit for correctly solving the puzzles and there’s no score. Correct answers flash green as you enter them, incorrect answers flash red. Think even takes into account spelling errors and if you get close, the game gives you the benefit of the doubt.

If you need to stop playing Think, your game progress will be saved on your Windows Phone and when you return to the game, you will start off where you left off. Again, you’ll need to log into your Facebook account to back up your game play.

Overall Impression

Think is definitely a puzzle game that will make you think. The game is designed to teach you to think more visually to determine the message a collection of images is representing. The more you play Think, the more the game grows on you.

The pace of the game is well suited for those times when you only have a few minutes to spend playing games. Think is also strong enough to stand up to longer gaming sessions as well. The game also has a mild addictive quality about it that keeps you drawn into game play.

The minimalistic graphics are well drawn-up, game play challenging and overall Think is an enjoyable game for Windows Phone 8. Think is a free, ad-supported game that you can find here in the Windows Phone Store.

Last week, Titanfall arrived on Xbox One and PC to much acclaim. Titanfall is the first game produced by Respawn Entertainment, the new studio formed by the creators of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. It also happens to be exclusive to Xbox One, 360, and PC thanks to an agreement between Microsoft and the game’s publisher: Electronic Arts.

The Xbox 360 version of Titanfall did not launch alongside its current-gen brothers, having instead been scheduled for a March 25 release. Xbox 360 shooter fanatics will have to wait a little longer to play the game though, as EA just pushed its release back into early April. Does this bode poorly for previous-gen Titanfall?

Delay of game

Although EA and Microsoft have been heavily promoting the Xbox One version of Titanfall since last year, they have yet to release a single asset from the Xbox 360 version. Respawn Entertainment did not develop the 360 game, instead handing porting duties over to Bluepoint Games.

Bluepoint is a studio that specializes in porting games from one platform to another, having worked on the God of War and Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collections for Sony and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for Konami. They also ported a couple of Sony games to the Vita.

We know Bluepoint has the chops to bring games to new hardware, but the secrecy behind Titanfall’s Xbox 360 version and this new release delay still provide cause for concern. Shouldn’t someone in the games media have seen Titanfall running on Xbox 360 by now? Microsoft wants to sell Xbox Ones and Titanfall is certainly a system seller. But the 360 version has the potential to do brisk sales as well thanks to that console’s larger established audience, after all.

Down to the wire

Patrick Söderlund, EVP at EA Studios explains the delay and attempts to calm gamers’ fears:

“I’ve been playing the game a lot, and it is fantastic.  But we see a few things that can be made even better, so we’re giving Bluepoint a little more time to do just that and deliver an epic Titanfall experience for Xbox 360 players.

Titanfall for Xbox 360 will now be releasing on April 8 in North America, and beginning on April 11 in Europe.  The game will feature the same 6v6 gameplay, maps, modes, weapons and Burn Cards as the Xbox One and PC versions of the game.”

The exact reason behind the 360 version’s delay isn’t quite clear. Generally, if a game needed a lot more work you’d expect a delay months instead of weeks. I’m thinking one or more critical bugs popped up during the certification process, necessitating the delay. Xbox 360 Titanfall discs have surely already gone into production, so the extra work Bluepoint and EA are doing now won’t make it onto the disc itself. Instead, expect a title update to accompany the game on release day. Titanfall is an online-only game, so players will need to be online in order to play anyway.

Titanfall will arrive on Xbox 360 on Tuesday, April 8 in the US and Friday, April 11 in Europe. Let’s hope it turns out as well as Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare did. In the meantime, check out our Titanfall Xbox One Controller review. Don't these delays just make you want to buy an Xbox One?

Project Spark is Microsoft’s innovative combination of both a game and game creation software for Xbox One, Windows 8, and eventually Xbox 360. Players can choose their own adventures as they play the Crossroads mode, create deeper games, and even play games created by others. Even if you don’t want to build your own games, Project Spark still gives you plenty to do. There’s really nothing like it on other platforms.

The closed beta of Project Spark went live on Xbox One at the beginning of March, trailing the Windows 8 version by a few months. The closed beta must have done really well, because Project Spark is now in open beta. That means you can get it right now on Xbox One and Windows 8 without having to sign up for anything! The open beta coincides with an update that revamps Project Spark’s In-App Purchase system. More details and our exclusive screenshots and hands-on video after the break!

Choosing your path to adventure

Crossroads is the first mode you’ll play when starting Project Spark. Before you set foot on the ground with a character, the game will ask you to choose what environment you’ll be playing in, the time of day, and more. Each question offers three choices, and players can “re-roll” to find new choices. You can also adjust the sea level, angle of the sun, and a few other fiddly variables – but it’s not necessary.

Having answered these questions three, you’ll choose a character and set up his or her home town. Is the town built around a well, an ancient tree, or another monument? Just answer the question within the game to decide. You’ll then be able to walk around the town, talk to automatically-generated NPCs, and look for stuff to do.

Completing the main adventure you selected is the ultimate goal during each game of Crossroads, but not the only one. Throughout your town and the surrounding wilderness, you’ll find floating question marks. Interact with one and the game will let you select from a variety of buildings and events to create. These will activate RPG-like quests and/or provide you with coins, weapons, and items.

Your actions during Crossroads mode will contribute experience and money to your overall Project Spark profile. These in turn will unlock new items for both Crossroads and the full Create mode. As for the adventures you create in Crossroads, those can be shared online with others - if you’re particularly proud of them.

Note that Project Spark does not have Xbox live Achievements… Yet. Those will surely come as the beta progresses over time.

In-App Purchases made simpler

The Project Spark Marketplace prior to this week's update

Before the latest update, Project Spark placed a few bothersome restrictions on playing games created by other users. If you didn’t own any piece of content used in the creation of a game, then you’d only be able to play that game for a limited time each day. After that, players would have to buy “Spark Time” in order to receive unfettered access to created games. This limitation did not apply to you when playing games created with items you already owned, at least.

Post-update, players can play anything created in Project Spark without time limits or having to own DLC. That’s a great change, as it allows everyone to fully enjoy all games shared by others. You can already find a wealth of impressive user-created content such as a recreation of the starting area in Fable, a fairly accurate Zelda adventure, a platformer based on Sonic the Hedgehog, and several Flappy Bird clones.

That Flappy Bird gets around!

Speaking of user-created games, the Project Spark team has dropped the number of free sharing slots that new players get down from five to three. Naturally they will offer extra slots for paying users. By purchasing “Spark Premium” subscriptions, players will receive a 200% XP and Credit bonus as well as unlocking additional permanent upload slots. And anyone who participated in the closed beta gets to retain their five upload slots instead of dropping down to three.

Project Spark is a free to play game, so In-App Purchases like Spark Premium time are necessary. Non-paying users can simply enjoy the game, play games shared by others, and dabble in creation mode. Dedicated users can choose to buy Spark Premium in order to speed up the process of unlocking items and gain more freedom to share via extra upload slots.

Every Xbox One gamer (and game-loving Windows 8 users) should give the Project Spark Beta a try. You’ll be amazed at your fellow players’ creations and maybe even how much fun it is to make your own games.

• Project Spark Beta– Xbox One – 1.48 GB – Free – Xbox.com Link
• Project Spark Beta– Windows 8 – 595 MB – Free – Store Link

Source for update details: iDigitalTimes

The next generation of Kinect Sports will be launching this April for Xbox One owners. The upcoming title, 'Kinect Sports Rivals', dives players into the extremely immersive and exciting world of athleticism and competitive rivalry. As you fight for the gold, your experience will be narrated by none other than the tenth Doctor, David Tennant.

For those of you unfamiliar with the popular BBC series, 'Doctor Who', we will try to forgive you, but it might be best that you put down whatever you are doing and head over to Xbox Video to see what an adventure it is.

Tennant will be narrating the “champion creation process” at the beginning of the game. Before every gamer starts their adventure in the world of Kinect Sports Rivals, an avatar is digitally scanned from you and thrown into the virtual world.

David explained that this is his first time working in the video game industry compared to film and television: “I’ve never done a video game before. This is a first for me.”

The new title introduces a collection of sports including climbing, wake racing, and target shooting; classic favorites such as soccer, tennis, and bowling will also be included. Tennant’s personal favorite? Rock climbing, in which he states that he enjoys “...the slightly unsportsmanlike element where you can grab a rival’s foot and chuck him off the cliff”.

Kinect Sports Rivals launches for Xbox One on April 8 in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Our wonderful European readers (and Rich), will have to wait until April 11 for the right to battle others as the Kinect Sports champion.

You can head over to the Xbox Marketplace now, to get in your preorder for $59.99.

Have you played any of the previous Kinect Sports – are you excited for the upcoming addition to the series?

Source: Microsoft

Zombie Tsunami is an endless runner styled platform game where you race through a city with your hungry horde of zombies, attacking and devouring citizens along the way.

The game receives 4.5 stars over on iOS and Android platforms. In the short time we’ve spent with the Windows Phone 8 game, it is only a matter of time before Zombie Tsunami shares the same success on our platform.

You begin the game with a single zombie running through the city streets, chasing down citizens. The more people you bite and add to your undead procession, the longer the tsunami becomes. The goal is to travel as far as you can and convert as many brains as possible.

Gaming features includes:

• Eight different power-ups and bonuses to help your zombie crew run further and destroy more
• Over three hundred missions to conquer
• Nine worldwide locations to stampede through

Game play is easy. You jump the zombie horde by tapping the screen to avoid pitfalls along the road that include land mines, breaks in the roadway, and changes in roadway levels. When you have strong enough of a zombie group, you can turn over trucks, cars and other vehicles to eat the survivors inside.

Power-ups include a tsunami wave that will advance your crew along the street at an accelerated and indestructible pace, activate a giant zombie with laser shooting eyeballs, and more. You also have coins that can be collected and spent in the game’s store to buy bonus items and gear.

Graphics are well done, game play challenging and overall Zombie Tsunami comes across as a fun Windows Phone 8 game (including low-memory devices). Zombie Tsunami is a free game and you can find it here in the Windows Phone Store.

Thanks, oissela and everyone else, for the tip!

Ubisoft and Pastagames’ Rayman Jungle Run was that perfect one-two punch: an excellent platformer, and a high quality mobile Xbox game. The sequel Rayman Fiesta Run had a lot to live up to, and it almost felt like Ubisoft didn’t want to share it with us. The game soft launched in limited territories, appeared to fully launch worldwide a few weeks later, and then quickly disappeared that same day.

At last, Rayman Fiesta Run is properly available with fully working Xbox Live Achievements on Windows Phone 8, Windows 8, and Windows RT. Though we had to wait a painfully long time for Fiesta Run, the wait was worth it. Even if you found Jungle Run too challenging, this one is forgiving (and beautiful) enough that it might just win you over. Read on for our full review.

From Legends to Fiesta

The shrinking levels are new to Fiesta Run and Rayman Legends.

Just as Jungle Run served as the mobile companion game to console hit Rayman Origins, so does Fiesta Run borrow features and assets from Rayman Legends (which recently graced Xbox One).

The core gameplay remains largely unchanged. Rayman and other unlockable characters automatically run forward endlessly, with players making them jump by tapping one side of the screen or punch by tapping the other. Rayman starts out only being able to jump and swim (which is new), but he’ll gain back the power to punch, hover, and wall run after reaching certain levels. Your goal is always to collect as many floating yellow Lums as possible before reaching the end of the level.

The actual game structure has changed for the better, though. Instead of selecting individual levels from separate themed sets, Fiesta Run features one large world map. As Rayman and friends complete levels and collect more Lums, the path along the map fills in, eventually revealing new levels and rewards. Those rewards include concept art (now higher resolution, thankfully), a much larger selection of unlockable characters (though still smaller than Rayman Legends’ impressive assortment), and the occasional free batch of Lums.

Fiesta Run consists of 76 total levels at launch: 36 regular levels, 36 Invasion levels, and four trips to the Land of the Livid Dead. The Invasion levels are tougher remixes of regular levels, with different enemy and item placement, visual changes, and more obstacles (a concept borrowed from Legends). The Land of the Living Dead levels are also aimed at experienced players, just as in Jungle Run. And like before, they’re the only levels to offer leaderboards – a shame that Ubisoft didn’t expand the game’s social and competitive features as they did with Legends.

Lumdog millionaire

The collectible Lums now serve as Fiesta Run’s currency. Outside of gameplay, they can be spent on new characters and concept art. At the beginning of most levels, players can also opt to spend Lums on an assortment of power-ups. These include a red heart that allow our heroes to survive one hit or a gold heart that protect from two, new gloves that allow the protagonists to fire projectile punches at enemies and obstacles; and a guide that shows the optimal path to take during the level. All are priced surprisingly affordably, and none are needed to actually beat a level. They sure help with Invasion levels though!

Because the game gives us things to spend Lums on this time, you can now acquire a lot of them. Each time you complete a level, the Lums collected will be added to your total – another cool element introduced in Rayman Legends. This really adds to the replay value since we now have incentive to beat levels again, even after perfecting them. Impatient players can also opt to buy Lums as an In-App Purchase, but that’s unnecessary since you earn so many while playing.

Beautiful, demanding, and slightly buggy

Jungle Run was always easy on the eyes, and Fiesta Run takes that artistic beauty even further. Besides gorgeous new character art and background themes, Ubisoft and Pastagames have also added 3D platforms into the mix. These don’t appear in every single level, but they add a great sense of depth whenever they show up. Bouncing between background layers whenever you touch a blue mushroom also instils extra depth.

The extra visual flash comes at a price, though: performance. On my Lumia 1520, the frame rate occasionally drops slightly when things get hectic. The frame rate drops a lot more on weaker devices like the Lumia 520, but the game remains playable.

Another little issue I’ve run into happens when my character gets turned around and starts running in the wrong direction. This always results from a mistaken or missed jump, and it nearly always leads to death. I don’t remember getting turned around in Jungle Run; the developers need to improve Fiesta Run’s direction-switching algorithm.

Finally, it often takes multiple presses of the “Return” button to reach the title screen from the world map. Not a huge deal, but annoying nonetheless. This affects both the Windows Phone and Windows 8 versions, oddly enough.

Party on Windows 8

Although Fiesta Run is available on both Windows Phone and Windows 8, neither version uses cloud saving. Windows players can’t jump between phone and tablet on the same save file. That’s a shame considering the iOS version does have cloud saves and even shares Lums between Jungle Run and Fiesta Run.

The Windows 8 and RT versions of Fiesta Run are even more susceptible to performance issues than the phone game, presumably due to their use of higher resolution assets. On the original Surface Pro, the frame rate regularly dips below 30 FPS. Luckily, it does run perfectly on my gaming notebook.

One problem unique to the PC and tablet versions of Fiesta Run: no keyboard support! Jungle Run allowed players to jump and attack by pressing the CTRL and Spacebar keys. The only way to perform those actions without a touch screen in Fiesta Run is by clicking the mouse buttons – not the ideal way to play. Neither Fiesta Run nor Jungle Run supports controllers, sadly.

Achievements

The most common complaint about Jungle Run was that a couple of its Achievements were almost impossibly difficult. You had to beat approximately 45 levels in a row without dying in order to unlock the final Achievement, argh.

Ubisoft and Pastagames took user feedback to heart and made Fiesta Run’s Achievements obtainable to normal human beings. You don’t need to perfect every single level in Fiesta Run, nor do you have to beat multiple levels in one attempt. The hardest one here (if you can call it that) is for collecting 20,000 Lums. It might take a little grinding (everyone recommends replaying level 9), but certainly won’t cause undue frustration.

Overall Impression

Fiesta Run is the perfect mobile companion to Rayman Legends. It captures the delightful look and feel of the console game, all while providing unique levels and a game design crafted specifically for playing on the go. It launches with more levels than Jungle Run ever featured, to boot.

Jungle Run’s one obvious flaw has been fixed. Reasonable Achievements and the ability to buy power-ups make it so that less skilled players can fully enjoy the game from start to finish. If you have joy in your heart and/or a love of platformers, Rayman Fiesta Run is a must-buy. Console gamers shouldn’t miss Rayman Legends, either.

• Rayman Fiesta Run – Windows Phone 8 – 81 MB – $2.99 – Store Link
• Rayman Fiesta Run – Windows 8 and RT – 97 MB – $2.99 – Store Link

While at GDC 2014, we spotted a promising platforming game coming soon to Windows Phone called Chronology. In it, players guide a genius (if slightly amnesiatic) tinkerer who has somehow unlocked the secrets of space and time with his gadgets. 

Head past the break to watch the gameplay video.

Players run, jump, and work their way through some fairly standard platform puzzles while making use of a stopwatch that jumps the player between a dystopian future and an idyllic past. These transitions will regularly change the location of key platforms to progress. Eventually you partner up with a snail that can somehow freeze time and teleport, which as you might imagine comes in pretty useful.

Chronology is expected to release in May on Windows through Steam Greenlight and Windows Phone and other mobile platforms shortly after they figure out their distribution strategies. Be sure to get a closer look at this whimsical little title at the Chronology home page. 

We’ve written about our “Newly Discovered Windows Phone Games” forum thread before. That’s where I learned about Pocket Avenger, a game that starts out fun but gets evil really fast. Still, our forum users are great at ferreting out new games for everyone to try. The latest game I discovered within the thread is Machinarium from Czech developer Amanita Design.

Windows Phone already hosts a variety of Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) games from publishers like Artifex Mundi. Those titles borrow elements from traditional PC adventure games, but dilute them a bit in order to maintain casual appeal. Machinarium is a full-blown adventure game that made its name on Steam before migrating to Windows Phone. If you enjoy the adventure genre, prepare to be amazed by Amanita’s first Windows Phone title.

Robot city

Machinarium stars a little robot named Josef. As the game opens, we see him dropped in a scrap heap outside of a gigantic industrial city. Josef wakes up, repairs himself, and sets off towards the city. Once the player helps him get inside, Josef sets about searching for his childhood robot friend. Along the way he’ll help robotic citizens in need as well as working to stop the evil Black Cap Brotherhood from destroying the city.

The story unfolds without any text or dialog. Instead, characters speak in voice bubbles that show little pictures about what they’re saying. This sells the idea that everything happens within an alien world (and also cuts down on translation costs). And yet the story is surprisingly involving and emotional, thanks to the gorgeous art-style and hand-drawn animation of each character.

Machinarium is one beautiful game. It feels like an interactive cartoon, just like most of the best adventure games of yesteryear. The robots’ world comes to life through an amazing attention to detail. Although I love Artifex Mundi games, this one’s scope is so much more vast and intriguing than any HOPA I’ve ever seen.

Another small victory for Windows Phone

Machinarium makes the trip to Windows Phone fully intact. To move around the environment and interact with objects, simply tap the screen. You can drag Josef’s neck up or down to adjust his height, allowing him to interact with objects above and below him. The in-game menu lets players save and load at any time, as well as view its non-Xbox Achievements (which are all progression-based).

Already a special game when it debuted on Steam, Machinarium is even more special on Windows Phone. You just don’t see many games like this on our platform, especially with the production values and length that Machinarium brings. It can be hard to figure out what to do at times, but there’s a built-in hint system (and online guides) to fall back on if you get stuck.

It’s great to see small but extremely talented developers like Amanita make their way to Windows Phone. Hopefully a Windows 8 and RT port follows as well, because Machinarium would look even more excellent on tablets. Stay tuned for a full review of the Windows Phone game!

Update: Store reviews claim that the game crashes at a certain point in the story. We're investigating and will report back with our findings.

Update 2: Amanita tells us that they are aware of the crashing problem. An update that fixes the crash should roll out within a few days. We'll let you know when the update goes live!

• Machinarium – Windows Phone 8 – 221 MB – $4.49 – Store Link
• Machinarium Soundtrack – 14 tracks – €6 (~$8.28) – Bandcamp Link

More fresh game recommendations

If adventure games aren’t your thing, we’ve got plenty more game recommendations for you. Check out the “Newly Discovered Games” forum thread, and be sure to leave your own suggestions whenever you discover a cool game that’s just come out.

Never Future is a role-playing game for your Windows Phone that has you playing the role of a young archeologist who stumbles across a mysterious artifact that sends him to a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world full of dangers.

The game has you searching this unknown world for a way home, all the while collecting trash to re-cycle for equipment upgrades, battling monsters and completing quests. The game has a bit of a Legend of Zelda feel about it, but with a more futuristic tone. Once you get used to the movement controls, Never Future is an entertaining game for the Windows Phone gaming library.

The Layout

Never Future’s opening menu is straight to the point with options to start a new game, load an existing game and view the About screen. When you start a new game with Never Future, the game will walk you through the basic gaming controls with a series of tutorials. These tutorial screens will appear throughout the game when a new element of game play is introduced.

In a nutshell, a directional pad sits at the left of the gaming screen and a quest button sits just above the d-pad. You use the d-pad to move your character around the screen and if you need to review your current quest, just tap the quest button. Blue footprints will also appear on the screen when you tap the quest button to give you a clue as to which direction you need to travel.

Your character’s health meter is positioned in the upper left corner of the gaming screen. It won’t be present until after you complete the first quest and find yourself teleported to the mysterious, unknown world.

As you progress through the game, action buttons will appear in the bottom right corner of the screen to control dialog, combat and special abilities. The game does lack a help section but the tutorial screens that pop-up from time to time and the dialog from the game's characters that help guide you through game play, Never Future can survive without one.

Game Play

Game play with Never Future is not unlike any other role playing game. You move your character down paths to complete quests, battle monsters and collect trash that can be turned in to upgrade existing gear or to buy new gear. Game characters with a "!" floating above their head will give you the opportunity to gather information on your quests. If you ever loose sight of your current quest, just tap the "quest" button on the left side of the screen.

Never Future has over fifty maps to explore that span deserts, dungeons, caves, laboratories, cities and oases. As you destroy the various monsters and smash up objects that are scattered about the game, trash will appear. You will need to pick up these trash items to use as currency in the shops that will appear at various stages of the game.

The shops carry a wide assortment of gear that includes armor, potions and three types of weapons. You have a driller that is a melee weapon, a sniper rifle and grenade launcher. Special abilities will eventually become available to help you defeat the various monsters such as lightning strikes, fire bursts, and ice attacks.

The wrench button on the gaming screen (up near your health meter) will pull up your inventory screen that will give you all the details on your armor, weapons and special ability. You can also see your trash count from this screen as well.

For the most part, game play was enjoyable and had its moments of intensity. The only real draw-back to game play was the movement controls. It took a little time to get used to the directional pad and movement wasn’t very smooth. I found myself banging into various obstacles, missing turns and basically walking around like a drunken sailor at times.

Overall Impression

Never Future comes across as an entertaining, somewhat challenging, nicely drawn-up RPG game for your Window Phone. While the pace of the game picks up during the combat sequences, Never Future has more of a casual pace overall. Your game progress is automatically saved when you exit the game, making it a nice option for short gaming periods or for the times you have more time to spend with the game.

I wouldn’t mind seeing shopping opportunities be more frequent but that adds to the challenge of the game a bit. Can you survive with the gear you have long enough to make it to the next store?

The movement controls are the game’s biggest weakness but you do get more proficient with the d-pad the more you use it. I’m not sure if this is an issue that the d-pad needs to receive a little fine-tuning under the hood or if it’s just the nature of the beast.

Some may find Never Future lacking of action and adventure but the game has its moments. Never Future does have a more casual pace but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Overall, Never Future isn't too shabby of a game for your Windows Phone well worth a try.

There is a trial version available for Never Future with the full version running $1.99 and the game is available for both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices. You can find Never Future here in the Windows Phone Store.

It’s the weekend, which means it’s the perfect time to look at the past week of activity in the Windows Phone Store. We’ll look at new apps and games, while also going over any apps that picked up big updates. In this edition of the weekly app highlight column we’ll look at Office Lens, NCAA March Madness Live, At Bat and more! Read on to make sure you don’t miss out on the newest apps on Windows Phone.

New

Office Lens– Microsoft on Monday announced a slew of announcements from the OneNote team. They released OneNote for Mac, introduced a new set of APIs and launched Office Lens for Windows Phone. With Office Lens you can scan documents, receipts, whiteboards and more. The scan is then saved to your OneDrive folder and will use OCR technology to pull the text from the images. It’s a powerful app for students and other professionals. Download Office Lens from the Windows Phone Store. (Free)

NCAA March Madness Live– March Madness is in full swing now for college basketball fans. You can watch all the games live with the official NCAA March Madness Live app for Windows Phone and Windows 8. Watch games live, get scores, news, check your bracket and more with the apps. Download March Madness Live from either the Windows Phone Store or the Windows Store. (Free)

At Bat– Speaking of sports, the Major League Baseball season is starting and we now have the 2014 edition of the At Bat app available. While technically ‘updated, it’s basically a new app with new features for this upcoming season. Watch games live, listen to game radio and more with the now available. Download At Bat from the Windows Phone Store. (Free/Subscription)

Nokia Pocket Magnifier– Here’s a handy tool from Nokia that will take advantage of the camera on your smartphone. Pocket Magnifier is basically a magnifying glass, but on your smartphone. Having trouble reading a receipt in a dimly lit restaurant? Bust out the app and you’re good to go. Download Pocket Magnifier from the Windows Phone Store. (Free/Lumia only)

ESPNF1– the 2014 Formula 1 season is underway. Keep track of the latest results from your favorite races with the official ESPN F1 app. It’s not brand new, but worth highlighting now that the season has a race under its belt already. See when the next race is, get circuit detail and more info. What F1 team are you rooting for? Download ESPNF1 from the Windows Phone Store. (Free)

Updated

Oggl and Oggl Pro – Looking for a mobile photographic experience that’s like Instagram, but puts a higher emphasis on quality. Then Oggl is the place for you. Both Oggl and Oggl Pro (only available for the Lumia 1020) are now updated to version 2.0. The latest edition brings a brand new interface and numerous improvements throughout the app. Download Oggl from the Windows Phone Store, but download Oggl Pro from the Windows Phone Store if you have a Lumia 1020. (Free)

Blink– Microsoft Research has updated their Blink app for Windows Phone. Version 2.4 brings a fresh new look, dual modes, focus lock, improved stabilization, Live tile and more. The app is impressive and we’re glad to see the team continue to update the app. Download it from the Windows Phone Store. (Free)

MixRadio– Nokia’s music service has picked up a new update this week. While small, the changes will be appreciated by fans of MixRadio. Offline mixes have been improved, new navigation UIs added and many performance/bug fixes can be found throughout. Download MixRadio from the Windows Phone Store. (Free)

6snap– Rudy Huyn’s popular Snapchat client 6snap has picked up a small update this week. The feature added is the ability to take screenshots. Just press the camera button when viewing a snap to save it to your phone. Download 6snap from the Windows Phone Store. (Free/In-app purchases)

Games

Machinarium– Looking for a beautiful and fun game? Check out Machinarium for Windows Phone. It’s a full-blown adventure game that we’re liking a lot. Some users report a crash on level 5, but the developer tells us a quick fix is coming soon. Give Machinarium a try from the Windows Phone Store. ($4.99)

Avengers Alliance– Looking to get your Marvel on? Then check out Avengers Alliance for Windows Phone to play as Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man and others in this new game. You’ll need at least 1GB of RAM to play the game though. Download it from the Windows Phone Store. (Free)

Have any apps or games to share? List them below!

Plane Wars is a fast paced, easy to play, but difficult to master Windows Phone 8 game. The combat strategy game includes forty-eight levels of action, five different game modes and respectable graphics.

The game also includes upgrades for your aviation fleet and special abilities to help wipe out the enemy forces. Game play is challenging enough to keep things interesting and overall, Plane Wars is an entertaining gaming option for Windows Phone 8.

The Layout

Your main menu with Plane Wars has options to jump into game play, access the game’s settings and view the About page. Settings cover language options, sound options and turning on/off the graphic shadows (from the airplanes).

Game play is spread across four different zones, with each zone containing multiple levels of play or missions. Missions are progressively unlocked, re-playable, and become more difficult the further you advance.

The goal of Plane Wars is to destroy your enemy planes and take control of your enemy base. Each mission starts out in the basic mode where combat is straightforward. One you complete the basic mode, you can return to the mission and replay the mission under additional gaming modes.

The additional game modes include:

• Blind Mode where the number of enemy ships is hidden.
• No Energy Mode where you cannot use special abilities.
• Sudden Death Mode you must defeat your enemy without the loss of any of your bases. If you lose one base, the game is over.
• x2 Mode where your enemy is twice as stronger.

The game modes are progressively unlocked in the above order. Once unlocked you can return to that particular mission and replay each mode. However, when you replay the missions you will not be able to earn upgrade stars (more on this in a minute).

From the mission select screen, your upgrade star count will be displayed. Upgrade stars are earned with each successful mission and can be used to upgrade various aspects of your aviation fleet. Upgrades range from more firepower, more flight speed, increase plane production, and more.

Game Play

Game play is simple. You play from an overhead view of the battlefield with a small collection of friendly bases and enemy bases. The number displayed on each base is the number of planes available at each base. These numbers represent your defensive and offensive strength.

At the top of the screen, you will find your energy meter and a special ability icon that temporarily increases your planes power. As additional abilities become available, additional icons will appear across the top of the game screen.

Control your attacks requires you to tap/hold on the base in which you want to attack from and drag your finger to the base in which you want to attack. A large portion of your fleet will then launch and attack that base. If you want to save time and launch your attack from multiple bases, just drag your finger to connect multiple friendly bases and then drag your finger to the target base. This is a nice strategy to save time and quickly send a large number of planes into combat.

You also have the ability to transfer planes between bases and there will be neutral bases that can be conquered to give you a strategic base location.

As you launch your armada of planes to destroy the enemy, construction begins to replenish your army of planes. As you would guess, while you are managing your forces and directing attacks against the enemy, the enemy is doing the same against you.

If your squadron of planes intercepts an enemy squadron en route to its enemy base target, they will battle the enemy planes in flight. Any survivors of the skirmish will continue to attack the enemy base. There is some strategy involved for being successful at Plane Wars but for the most part you simply go toe-to-toe with your opponent. All of which gives game play a bit of a quickened pace.

Overall Impression

Plane Wars is a fun combat strategy game for your Windows Phone. The key is to upgrade your plan productivity early on to help avoid being overwhelmed by the enemy.

While an entertaining game, the game controls needs a little fine-tuning. When launching your planes if the enemy base is not highlighted just right, the launch will fail. More times than not, I would have to highlight the enemy base, hold my touch there for a second then release to see my planes head in that direction. The delay may not sound long but it gives your enemy forces time to rebuild or launch against your bases.

Plane Wars has plenty of challenges, nice graphics and entertaining game play. There is a trial version available for Plane Wars to let you try things out before buying. The full version is currently running $.99 and the game is compatible with Windows Phone 8 (including low memory devices).

You can find your copy of Plane Wars here in the Windows Phone Store.

We haven’t mentioned the Windows Phone game Trine’s Hangman in some time. For those not familiar, Trine’s Hangman is a fantastic rendition of the classic hangman word games. The lifetime game mode tracks and saves your gaming progress, you can customize your gaming background images, and overall Trine’s Hangman is just a fun game to have in your Windows Phone gaming library.

Trine’s Hangman was recently updated to version 3.0, which has a healthy change log. The most notable additions to the game will probably be support for 720p and 1080p resolutions, support for multiple accounts from one phone and fine-tuning to improve performance on low-memory devices such as the Nokia Lumia 520.

The multiple account support allows each player to have separate settings unique to each account. Not only can your significant other be able to play Trine’s Hangman off their account from your phone but also you don’t have to sacrifice your settings in the process. You also have the ability to pin each player account to your Windows Phone Start Screen for quick and easy access.

Additional changes in the version 3.0 update include:

• Streamlined the change player name / password web pages so the experience is fluent from both phone and PC, including that the pages are opened with info prefilled when opened from the game on the phone.
• No black bars in top/bottom of the screen on 720p phones like the HTC 8X.
• No black bars in top/bottom of the screen on 1080p phones like the Nokia Lumia 1520.
• Trine’s Hangman will now notify about a new version when a new version is available.
• New look up page, makes it easier to both look up words and to report 'bad' words/sentences/phrases.
• New copy-to-clipboard option for played words.
• Two player mode can now be played with up to 50 rounds.
• New high-resolution icons for buttons in the menu bars.
• Accent color is matched to active background image, so the app always looks nice.
• Light theme has been removed.
• Trine’s Hangman will now have two versions, one for Windows Phone 8 and one for Windows Phone 7.x.

You also have the customary minor bug fixes and spelling corrections throughout the game.

Last but not least, you will also see a price drop with the paid version of Trine’s Hangman. While we have seen promotional offers lower the price of the game, the price has been permanently lowered from $1.99 to $1.29. The free version of Trine’s Hangman will remain fully featured with ads only showing up about once every five minutes.

If you are looking for an enjoyable word game for your Windows Phone, Trine’s Hangman is a fantastic option to consider. There are two versions available for both Windows Phone 7.x and 8 devices.

You have the ad-supported version of Trine’s Hangman, which is free, that you can find here in the Windows Phone Store. You also have Trine’s Hangman Pro that is running $1.29 in the Windows Phone Store.

Note: A version 3.1 update was submitted to the Microsoft Store for certification over the weekend to fix a few bugs dealing with the server side and a puzzle spelling error. This update should be live shortly.

Super Polygon is a deceptively simple puzzle game for Windows Phone 8 that has you navigating through a psychedelic maze that is in constant motion.

The game has simple mechanics where timing is key and the pace of game play can get the best of you. Your score is based on how long you can survive the shifting, rotating puzzle and don’t be surprised if it is only for a few seconds. Super Polygon comes across as an entertaining and challenging puzzle game for your Windows Phone gaming library.

Layout

Super Polygon’s main menu has your standard options to jump into game play, access the game’s settings, view high scores, view the about screen and play the tutorial. Super Polygon’s settings cover rotation speed, sound levels, and themes (available via in-app purchase). The tutorial is a much slower paced version of the game that gives you fighting chance at success at the game. It's also an easy way to get a good feel for the movement controls and overall gaming concept.

Game play with Super Polygon has three gaming styles, Square, Pentagon and Hexagon that are progressively unlocked or unlocked via in-app purchase. Each mode involves a different shape of your core puzzle piece and the style of your puzzle pieces that you have to navigate around.

Game Play

Game play is relatively simple. You have a center puzzle piece that has an arrow just outside the piece. Tapping the right side of the screen, rotates the center/arrow clockwise, tapping the left will rotate it counter-clockwise.

The playing field rotates and changes colors as puzzle pieces (let’s call them walls) close in on the center of the game. Your job is to rotate the arrow through the maze of pattern, avoiding the walls. If your arrow hits a wall, game over.

Your score is based on how long you can survive and the longer you survive, the faster the game pace becomes.

Overall Impression

Graphics are minimal, game play challenge and overall Super Polygon comes across as an entertaining Windows Phone 8 game. Game play can be a little frustrating at times as the walls close in on the center of the puzzle but that just adds to the challenge.

The pace of the game will keep you on your toes and overall, Super Polygon is an entertaining game to pass the time with.

The base game is free and ad-supported. To remove the ads will get cost you $1.49 via in-app purchases and enabling themes or unlocking gaming levels cost ranges from $1.49 to $4.99. Super Polygon is available for Windows Phone 8 devices (including low-memory devices).

You can find Super Polygon here in the Windows Phone Store.

We first looked at Pac-Man Museumduring last year’s E3, where it served as part of Namco’s push to reinvigorate Pac-Man with modern audiences. The same push includes an animated show and game called Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, as well as the updated Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ on both Windows 8 and Xbox 360.

At last Pac-Man Museum has arrived on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 to teach gamers the history of Pac-Man by packaging nine of his classic games in one downloadable collection.

Pac-in games

Pac-Man Museum contains nine (mostly) great games. Noticeably missing are most of the Midway-developed arcade entries like Jr. Pac-Man; the 16-bit console adventure game Pac-Man 2; and the 1996 arcade game Pac-Man Arrangement (though Museum does include a different Arrangement game).

Pac-Man (1980):

The original arcade game that introduced Pac-Man and his ghostly antagonists to the world. For those that may not be familiar with this classic, the game consists of a single maze filled with tasty dots. Each time Pac-Man eats all of the dots and clears the maze, it refreshes and the ghosts move faster.

This game was so popular that strategy books for it actually appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and the song “Pac-Man Fever” reached number 9 on the Billboard Top 100 chart. Pac-Man is the only game from this collection to be released on Windows Phone (see our review).

Super Pac-Man (1982):

The first official sequel to Pac-Man was inspired by an intermission sequence in the original game featuring a giant Pac-Man. Super Pac-Man did not appear on home consoles until it reached the original Playstation in 1996!

The goal is still to clear the maze, but dots have been replaced by fruits. Mazes also hold locked doors that can be opened by keys. By eating one of two Super Power Pellets, Pac-Man turns “Super” and can safely move through ghosts and locked doors. Bonus levels appear every few levels as well.

Pac & Pal (1983):

This off-kilter follow-up to Super Pac-Man introduces a helper character named Miru. She grabs fruits and items, dragging them back to the ghosts’ base.

Pac-Man can eat special items that allow him to stun enemies with projectiles. Pac & Pal features not only bonus levels but also background music, a first for the series.

Pac-Land (1984):

Before Super Mario Bros. took the world by storm, Pac-Man starred in his own arcade platformer based on the American Pac-Man cartoon series. Pac-Land seems deceptively simple, but holds tons of secrets.

The arcade version of Pac-Land ditched the standard joystick in favor of three buttons: left, right, and jump. The home version simply maps left and right to the d-pad. For the most part this is fine, but some levels contain springboards that require the player to press right on the d-pad repeatedly in order to cross gaps. If you don’t tap the direction ridiculously quickly, you’ll fall and die.

Pac-Mania (1987):

The final Pac-Man arcade game until 1996. Pac-Mania plays much like the original Pac-Man, but uses a pseudo-3D isometric perspective. The new viewpoint makes for an attractive presentation, except that you can barely see anything to the left or right of Pac-Man due to the close view.

Pac-Mania features four distinct mazes and actually has an ending, unlike previous games. Pac-Man can now jump, which is cool. But so can one of the two new ghosts, largely negating the usefulness of jumping in later levels.

Pac-Attack (1993):

A falling-block puzzle game designed for consoles; this version originated on the Sega Genesis.

There are three main types if pieces: blocks, ghosts, and Pac-Man. Filling a horizontal line with blocks makes it disappear, just like in Tetris. Ghosts pretty much pile up until you drop a Pac-Man piece. The yellow guy then eats all the ghosts in his path.

Pac-Attack’s gameplay is unintuitive compared to games like Tetris and Puyo Puyo. I’ve never cared for it.

Pac-Man Arrangement (2005):

For some reason, there have been two completely different games called Pac-Man Arrangement. The first one showed up in arcades in 1996, yet isn’t part of this collection. Instead, we get the second Arrangement game that started out on PSP as part of Namco Museum Battle Collection.

This Arrangement plays like the original Pac-Man but uses 3D graphics and a widescreen presentation. Pac-Man now travels along a world map, with each location containing a number of unique levels. At the end of every series of levels you’ll face a gigantic boss.

With lots of new items and unique gameplay mechanics, Arrangement is one of the best games in this collection.

Pac-Man Championship Edition (2007):

The only sequel designed by the creator of Pac-Man, Toru Iwatani. Championship Edition (CE) first appeared as an Xbox Live Arcade game. It never came to Windows Phone, although we did get Pac-Man Championship Edition DX.

In CE, each maze is divided into two halves. Eating all of the dots in one half will cause a fruit to appear. Chomp that and a fresh pattern of dots appears in the other half of the maze.

Players now select a 5- or 10-minute timed mode and then try to earn as many points as possible during that time. Afterward, a chart displays the player’s scoring progress during the allotted time.

Pac-Man Battle Royale (2011):

Namco Bandai created this multiplayer version of Pac-Man for limited arcade distribution; Museum is its first home port.

In Battle Royale (BR), up to four players control their own colored Pac-Man. Everyone can eat dots and ghosts, but that’s not the main point. You really want to cause the other Pac-Men to die by either bumping them into a ghost or by eating a power pellet and then cannibalizing them.

BR is fun in short sessions, but the low-budget nature hampers its longevity. You can’t select mazes, rules, or any options other than the number of rounds. This one could have used a little extra TLC in order to keep console players coming back for more.

Ms. Pac-Man too

The only Midway-developed sequel that Namco recognizes in the Pac-Man canon, Ms. Pac-Man is probably a better game than the original. It introduces four distinct mazes, multiple warp tunnels in each maze, and a faster pace than Pac-Man.

Ms. Pac-Man is a $5 DLC add-on in Museum. However, anyone who downloads the DLC before the end of March won’t have to pay a thing. That’s good because this version lacks the optional goals that other Museum games feature. The separate Ms. Pac-Man XBLA game is a better value.

Collectibles and presentation

Museum features an attractive (if poorly-laid out) interface themed around the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures cartoon. By completing optional challenges in each of the nine main games, players can populate the “Pac Room” with 3D characters from the show. Recreations of actual Pac-Man memorabilia would’ve been a better fit, but the publisher understandably wanted to promote the new show.

While I love most of the games within this collection, the presentation of the games themselves is surprisingly poor. All of the games except for Championship Edition run at lower than 720P native resolutions and thus are displayed with decorative borders. The borders look good and match the Pac-Man theme, but there’s no way to stretch the images to fill the screen. A retro collection in this day and age should include some display options.

Also, you can’t view a game’s goals from within the game itself. You have to clumsily navigate back to the main menu and select the Sticker Book.

Achievements

Most of Museum’s 400 GamerScore worth of Achievements revolve around collecting stickers from the nine main games. Each of those games offers eight challenges such as reaching specific scores or eating 100 ghosts. To get every Achievement you’d need to complete every single goal. Unfortunately, several games like Pac-Land have one or more ridiculously hard goals.

If Ms. Pac-Man had offered stickers that contributed towards the overall goal of 72 stickers, Museum would be tough but reasonable to complete. Instead, you have to be a literal Pac-man master. Only three people have unlocked all 12 Achievements.

Overall Impression

It’s no hyperbole to say that Pac-Man Museum is the best collection of Pac-Man games ever released. Most of these games have appeared in past collections, but always spread out across multiple volumes. Sure a few games are still missing. But you do get all the classic Namco arcade games plus the expansive Pac-Man Arrangement and the fun-with-friends Battle Royale.

Many online users have expressed concerns with Pac-Man Museum’s price. $20 is steep for an XBLA/PSN game, which usually top out at $15. Still, collections like this often sell for $20 at retail. Presentation issues aside, there has never been a better assortment of Pac-Man games in one package. Pac-fans should snap Museum up right away – or wait for a sale.

• Pac-Man Museum – Xbox 360 – 230 MB – $19.99 – Xbox.com Link

Love it or hate it, the Angry Birds franchise is one of the most successful game series in the history of mobile. Today we’re looking at an update for Angry Birds Rio. We’re getting a ton of additions to the game that’s now at version 2.0. Plus, it's now free!

Head into the Windows Phone Store and you’ll see Angry Birds Rio at version 2.0. You can either download or update your existing install of Angry Birds Rio to take advantage of the new additions.

Here’s what’s new with version 2.0 of the game:

• New High Dive episode – Based on the upcoming sequel to Rio
• New levels – 20 new levels and 6 bonus levels set in the Brazilian port harbor
• New graphics
• River dolphins – Save these animals for points
• New move – Dive below to break open cages

You’ll also notice a new logo for Angry Birds Rio. The game is also free, which is a nice move on developer Rovio’s part. Previously, the game went for $0.99 in the Windows Phone Store. Note: We’re not seeing an update for the Windows Phone 7 version of the game, this looks like something only available for Windows Phone 8 users.

We just installed the game and it looks great. You'll find all old levels from 'Rio' there, but you can then toggle and see new levels for 'Rio 2'. Not a bad update and we might just get addicted again to Angry Birds. 

Download Angry Birds Rio from the Windows Phone Store.

Thanks for the tip everyone!

Shuttle Up is a relatively simple Windows Phone 8 game where you try to navigate a shiny little ball as high as you can. While the premise is simple, game play isn't without challenge.

The challenge with Shuttle Up comes into play with barriers that will be scattered about that you have dispatch before advancing any higher. As you approach the barriers, ever so slightly they will move out of your way. Advance to quickly and you'll smash into the barriers, ending your game. In playing the game for the past few days, Shuttle Up comes across as a fun, challenging game for Windows Phone 8 but it also can be frustrating.

Layout

Along with its simplistic game play, Shuttle Up has an equally simple layout. The main page has options to view the online leaderboard and jump into game play.You can customize your player name from the leaderboard view as well as mute the game sounds. To customize your player name, just tap on the name field and enter/modify your player name.

Game Play

Game play starts with your silver ball resting on its pedestal. To start your journey upwards, just tap the screen. The harder the tap, the quicker your ball accelerates upwards. Gently tap the screen and your ball advances ever so slightly up the screen.

At some point, you will encounter a barricade on your journey up the Windows Phone. When you advance your silver ball close enough to the barricade, it will move out of the way.

If your ball strikes the barricade, game over. Additionally, if you let your ball fall downwards too much, the game will end.

Shuttle Up is a game that requires a gentle touch, patience and a sense of timing. The barricade moves out of the way at a decent clip but you can still hit the barricade if you try to advance too quickly.

Overall Impression

I'm not sure if Shuttle Up is a Windows Phone game that will keep you occupied for hours on end. However, it is a fun game to help you pass short bits of time with.

There is an addictive quality with Shuttle Up that keeps you pulled into the game. The game is so simple, you will find yourself coming back to see if you can get the timing down just right and see double digit scores.

Graphics are nice, game play challenging and overall Shuttle Up is not a bad game to have in your Windows Phone gaming library.

Shuttle Up is a free game, available for Windows Phone 8 (including low-memory devices), that you can find here in the Windows Phone Store.

After being arguably the most popular soccer game for Windows Phone devices, FIFA 14 has now arrived on the Windows Store for Windows 8 PCs and tablets.

The Xbox LIVE enabled game would satiate your craving for authentic soccer experience with real players, teams, and leagues along with new touch controls that deliver the feel of every pass, shot and tackle.

The game features 34 leagues, over 600 licensed teams, and more than 16,000 players. And while you play, you can listen to game commentary in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish. To build your ultimate fantasy team, you can earn and trade, or buy and sell FIFA players. You earn coins as you compete in tournaments which you can spend on new players and items to improve your team.

FIFA 14 features three extra modes - Manager, Tournament, and Kick Off – that you can upgrade to or unlock via in-app purchases. Apart from English, the game is available in 10 other languages - Chinese, German, Spanish, Japanese, French, Russian, Italian, Korean, Dutch, and Portuguese. It’s almost 1 GB of download, so make sure you have enough space, especially if you are on a Windows 8 tablet.

Download FIFA 14 for free from the Windows Store, and let us know how you like it. I’m quite addicted to FIFA 14 on my Nokia Lumia 920, and have just finished downloading the game on my Surface. It looks like I’ll spend quite some time on this one as well. Time for the kick off!

Need the Windows Phone 8 version? Grab it here in the Store (also free).

via: The Fire Hose